Article feeding mechanism



Oct. 20, 1953 J. M. SCHMIED 2,656,035

ARTICLE FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 20, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet l i o I T I; a

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1953 J. M. SCHMIED 2,656,085

ARTICLE FEEDING IIECHANISI Filed Aug. 20. 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVHVTOR. g4 23' JEsyhMScJzmied,

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Oct. 20, 1953 J. M. SCHMIED 2,656,085

ARTICLE FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 20. 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Oct. so, 1953 ARTICLE FEEDING MECHANISM Joaeph'M. Schmied. Chicago, Ill, align. to

White Cap Compa y. hi go. 111-,

tion of Delaware Application August :0, lfli'i serial No. scam This invention has to do with mechanisms for feeding articles one at a'time in predetermined position from a jumbled supply of such articles.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved mechanism of the type described which will deliver the articles in the desired position at a high rate of speed, is dependable and comparatively quiet in operation. is in-. expensive to construct, and is readily accessible for cleaning and repair.

, Other more specific objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction and operation of the new feeding mechanism.

While the new mechanism is capable of handling articles, of various kinds it is particularly well suited for use in the feeding of closure caps to a sealing or other machine in which the caps are applied to containers, and the mechanism will therefore be illustrated and described in that connection.

A preferred embodiment of the invention and one modification are disclosed herein by way of exemplification but it will of course be appreciated that the invention is susceptible of incorporation in other structurally modified forms coming equally within the scope of the appended mately the line l4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary face view of a portio of the periphery of the rotating disk, showing in detail the cleats and pick-up pins;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section through the disk, taken on the line 88 of Fig. 4, showing a cap on one of the pins;

. Fig. '7 is a perspective view of one of the pins:

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section through the disk and transfer blade, taken on the Fig. 4; w Fig. 9 is a fragmentary face view of a portion of the periphery of the disk, showing a modified cleat and pin construction; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section, taken on the line lo-lo of Fig.9.

' The new feeding mechanism, designated generally by the numeral III, is shown in Fig. 1 as 1 Claims. (01. sac-ass) 2 v applied to a sealing machine I l,v ior feeding closure caps l2 to open-topped containers passn through such machine.

The mechanism It comprises a circular hopper it into which a supply of-the caps is adapted to be dumped. i The hopper II is set at an angle, and the top ll, bottom II and sides I of the hopper are preferably closed and of double-walled insulated construction, to minimize the noise caused by the caps in being tumbled against each other within the hopper. A suitable. door I! is provided' in the top It for use in loading the hopper linel-Jot with the caps.

Immediately above the inclined bottom ll of the hopper is mounted a similarly inclined disk It, which disk is preferably of somewhat conical shape. The disk is is of substantially the same diameter as the hopper and is mounted on a short shaft I! which is rotated from a motor 20 through suitable reduction gearing 2 I. The disk it is adapted to be rotated by the motor 2. in the direction indicated by the curved arrow in Fig- 4.

The disk ll forms the bottom support for the jumbled mass of caps within the hopper, while the bottom ll of the hopper serves primarily to support the drive mechanism and the hopper as a whole and further insulate the assembly against noise. The bottom It is provided with a; downwardly extending mounting bracket 22, which bracket is adapted to be rigidly secured to the sealing or other machine with which the feeding mechanism is used.

The inclined disk II is provided at regular intervals about its periphery with 'aiarge number of projecting cleats or bosses 23 and with a corresponding number of projecting pins or studs 24, with the pins located immediately behind the cleats'in the direction of rotation of the disk.

Th caps l2 are adapted to ride up upon the cleats 23 and then drop ofl of the same onto the pins 2|. Those caps which happen to be open-; iace down when in positions adjacent the cleats will be hooked by the pins 2|, in the manner shown in Fig. 6, as the pinsmove upwardly and laterally in an arcuate path, and will be carried along onthe pins.- Those capswhich are not in such positions willmerely slide back along the surface of the disk, where they will be jumbled again with the other caps and subsequently picked up by the ins. v

The spacing of the cleats 23 is preferably such. relative to the size of the caps l2, as to permit the caps hooked on the pins 24 to be rotated to a limited extent bysravity on the pins after the caps have been hooked and before they reach the blade 33. The hooking action takes place iii-the lower left-hand portion of the hopper and the subsequent change of position of the caps on the pins as they travel into the upper portion of the hopper moves the booking formations 32 on the pins clear of the edges of the gaskets in the caps, thus facilitating transfer of the caps onto the blade 38.

The hopper It and disk 18 are preferably disposed at an inclination of about 60 to the horizontal, but the inclination may be varied as desired The particular closure caps l2 shown are of the construction disclosed in U. 8. Patent No. 2,839,827 and have flat tops 25, peripheral rims 26 which flare outwardly at their edges and sidesealing gaskets 21 of less height than the rims locked within the latter. but it will be understood. of course, that the new feeding mechanism is not restricted in its use to closure caps of this construction, nor, in fact, to closure caps at all.

The cleats 23 may be secured to the disk l8 by any suitable means, such as screws 28, or may be formed integrally with the disk. The leading sides 28 of the cleats are preferably beveled in order to permit the caps to ride easily up onto the cleats, and the inner sides 30 of the cleats may also be beveled if desired. The trailing or rear sides 3| of the cleats are preferably abruptly arranged and also disposed at an angle to the leading sides, whereby to permit the caps to drop quickly into hooked engagement with the pins and also to allow ample clearance for the caps when thus engaged by the pins, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The pins 2 preferably project to about the height of the cleats, and are preferably provided on their leading edges with hook-like formations 32, which formations are adapted to engage the edges of the sealing gaskets 21 when caps of the construction shown in Fig. 6 are employed. The hook-like formations 32 are preferably directed inwardly toward the center of the disk [8 at an angle of about 30, as shown in Fig. 5, to facilitate releasing of the caps. The outer and rear sides of the pins 24 are left plain, in order to permit the caps to be easily disengaged from the pins at the proper, time.

Thecaps are removed from the pins 24 by means of a blade 33 which bears at an angle against the surface of the disk near the top of the latter. The blade fits closely against the surface of the disk preferably under some spring tension, and as the hooked caps move toward the edge 3! of the blade they are lifted by the blade clear of the pins and permitted to slide across the blade and down a chute 35. which chute forms a continuation of the blade. The chute. is provided some distance beyond the blade 33' with side members 36 and 31 and a cover member 38,

for preventing the caps from riding over each other in the chute, the chute being of such cross section asto accommodate the caps only in single order. The chute passes through the far side of the hopper, at an opening 39 provided in the same; and then extends in a gradual curve back under the lower portion of the hopper and into theassociated machine.

The disk It is preferably provided at circumferentially spaced intervals with projecting rods 40, which rods are of such length as to pass under the chute. The rods serve to stir up the caps in the bottom 'of the hopper as the disk rotates whereby to continually change the positions of the caps and turn certain of them into positions wherein they will ride upon the hooked by the pins.

cleats and be.

The conical shape of the disk It assists in the operation of the mechanism by presenting a more nearly horizontal support for the caps in the bottom of the hopper while presenting a more nearly vertical surface from which the caps are suspended on the pins in the upper section of the hopper. I v

The conical shape of the disk also eliminates adhesion of the caps to the disk, since the curvature in the cone permits only two point contact of the caps with the disk and prevents the caps from contacting the disk contiguously throughout their widths, which contiguous contact frequently tends to cause sticking of the caps to the disk.

In operation, the hopper is loaded with the caps or other articles, preferably being filled to about one-half the depth of the hopper. As the disk l8 in the hopper rotates the caps are continuously stirred up and jumbled about in the hopper by the agitating rods 40, as well as to a certain extent by the cleats 23 and pins 24. Excellent results are obtained by rotating the disk somewhere between thirty to forty revolutions per minute, but greater or less speeds can of coursebe used. After the caps I2 become hooked upon the pins 26 and as they approach the blade 33 they develop sufhcient centrifugal force to cause them when released from the pins to travel more or less tangentially of the disk in a generally horizontal direction along the blade under centrifugal force, such centrifugal action causing the ca to move into the chute.

This new feeding mechanism permits of a very high rate of pick-up and delivery, and is comparatively quiet in operation. 1

In the modification shown in Figs. 9 and '10 th cleats 23' are formed merely as rounded segments and the'pins 24' are given a conical shape. Still other formations for either the cleats or the pins might, of course, be employed to obtain the camming up and hooking results desired.

I claim:

1. A mechanism for feeding articles one at a time in predetermined position from a jumbled supply of the articles, comprising an angularly disposed drum-like container in which a number of the articles are adapted to be placed, asimilarly disposed rotatable disk in the bottom of the container against which the articles are adapted to bear, means for rotating the disk, pick-up studs projecting from the surface of the disk adjacent the periphery thereof at circumferentially spaced intervals for hooking under only those of the articles which happen to assume the desired position, elevating bosses projecting from the disk in advance of the studs at circumferentially spaced intervals for raising the articles into positions where they may drop back into hooked eng'agement with the studs, a transfer blade in the container adjacent the surface of the disk for receiving from the studs those of the articles which have become hooked thereon. and a delivery chute in the container connected with the transfer blade for receiving the articles from the latter and feeding them one at a time from the container.

2. A feeding mechanism of the character set forth in claim 1, wherein the pick-up studs are provided with hook-shaped formations on their leading sides and are devoid of such formations on their outer sides.

3. A feeding mechanism of the character set forth in claim 1, wherein the elevating bosses merge gradually into the surface of the disk at their leading side and terminate abruptly at their trailing sides.

4. A feeding mechanism of the character set forth in claim 1, wherein additional projecting members are provided on-the disk for agitating the articles beneath the surface of the mass of the latter.

5. A feeding mechanism of the character set forth in claim 1, wherein the rotatable disk is,of conical shape, with the upper portion of the disk disposed more nearly vertical than the lower portion of the disk.

6. A mechanism for feeding ring-shaped articles one at a time from a mass of such articles, characterized by a rotatable disk against which the mass of articles is adapted to be placed, means for rotating the disk, pick-up studs projecting from the surface of the disk adjacent the periphery thereof at circumferentially spaced intervals for hooking the articles, elevating bosses projecting from the disk in advance of the studs at circumferentially spaced intervals for raising the articles into positions where they may drop back into hooked engage-- ment with the studs, a delivery chute for discharging the articles one at a time, and means for transferring the hooked articles from the studs to the chute. a

7. A mechanism for feeding ring-shaped articles one at a time from a mass of such articles, characterized by a rotatable disk against which the mass of articles is adapted to be placed, means for rotating the disk, pick-up studs projecting from the surface of the disk adjacent the periphery thereof at circumferentially spaced intervals for hooking the articles, said studs being provided with hook-like formations on their leading sides and being devoid of such formations on their outer sides, whereby to permit the articles picked up by the hook-like formations on the studs to be raised straight off the studs when subsequently suspended from the outer sides of the latter, a delivery chute for discharging the articles one at a time, and a stripper plate extending upwardly from the chute in converging relation to the upper surface of the disk adjacent the top thereof for raising the articles from the studs and transferring the same to the chute.

JOSEPH M. SCHMIED.

References, Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Birdsall Oct. '22, 1946 

